My copies of the Brazilian Portuguese translated edition of Timesmith have finally arrived! Called O Artifice Do Tempo the book was released in July last year, so I’ve been waiting with anticipation for my copies to arrive for some time.

Sometimes authors are the last to know about foreign edition release dates. That might seem hard to believe (I’m still getting used to it myself) but having spoken to several other authors it’s not unusual. So it was with some surprise and delight that I stumbled on a familiar image via Twitter. There was the Brazilian Portuguese edition of Timesmith, or O Artífice do Tempo, which is due out this week!

It seems to be a straight reuse of the UK cover, designed by James Fraser, which is a slightly different approach taken with the Brazilian edition of Sorrowline last year.

It’s great to see both books published there and I’m looking forward to having a copy on my shelf some day soon!

Some people love football. They love everything about it! The highs the lows, the… er, goals. People who love the game enthuse about their favourite teams, arrange their entire lives around watching it on the TV, debate it with fellow fans. They’re obsessed, passionate supporters.

Then there’s me.

Hate is a strong word I rarely use, and I wouldn’t go so far as to use it against football. But my interest in it runs to a big fat zero. Yes, I was one of those guys waiting to be picked for the school kick-about. Yes, I’m short sighted and could never kick the ball in the right direction. Yes, I’m not very good at football, all right! I’ve had good reasons to dislike it from an early age.
But right now football is pretty hard to avoid. There’s some sort of competition going on in Brazil that seems to bring out the flag-waving nutter in the nicest of people. But it’s not the only thing to get excited about in that part of the world: Sorrowline is soon to be published in Brazil, and here’s the cover!

It’s using some of the elements from the UK cover by James Fraser but with a new twist. It’s interesting how each new territory has their own take on the cover. Here’s a comparison of the original UK version, then Germany, Thailand and Brazil. Even the title is different! I think my favourite is still the UK one, with the German comic-book approach coming a very close second.

So if you’re like me and not the biggest fan of the beautiful game then there is an alternative: spend the summer learning a new language! Might I suggest German, Thai or Brazilian Portuguese?